Silent Wishes
by SunLight
Summary: Lily has a crush on James, but he is indifferent to her and plays awful pranks his snobby girlfriend puts him up to. One day, he went too far and Lily, having gotten insult to injury, did something that will change their lives forever.
1. Prologue

A.N. Hello! This is my first try at L/J romance! This is the prologue, in diary form. This will be the ONLY chapter in ONLY diary form. Please review, even if you don't like it, so I know how to fix the stories. Thank you. 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except for the plot and story, which belongs to me. I will not make any money on the book.

Dear Diary,

                It's me, Lily Evans again. 

                I am so…I don't know, jumbled up today? I need to tell you why. You see, I've been thinking about that annoying James Potter again! I hated him so much before. He didn't even need to _study_ to get a good score. It's like in his destiny to be the Prefect or something. But me! I need to load two hundred books for one perfect paper. I never did know what will happen if I don't study and I wouldn't try and find out. Imagine how Petunia would gloat! How could she be my twin sister, I think about that sometimes. Now where was I? Of course…I found out that I am in love with James.

                Oh my god. He is the most handsome boy I've ever seen. He is also the youngest Quidditch Captain, being only fifteen. He is also smart and nice and a perfect troublemaker and very popular. Unlike me…I don't have a soul that I can point to and say, "Hey, that's my friend and I entrust everything to her!" Not a soul. I love James so much.

                Now, there's dilemma. There's a Christmas Ball coming up.

                Professor McGonagall announced it because it was in celebration of what? I am not sure. The first defeat of Voldemort? Yes, I am not afraid to say that name. Perhaps with my nerd looks and actions, my ugly, ugly face, this is another reason why I am not liked and not popular. Oh well. But it was a ball, nonetheless. Boys have to dance with _girls._ But the thing is…I guess you know already. I want to go out with James.

                Oh, that really could happen! I know you would say. He didn't even know that I exist. When he talks to me, it was only like, "Hey, what's the homework?" or "Whoever you are, fetch me that owl please?" or something of that nature. He and his best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew are all head over heels over the snobbiest girl, Kristina. Kristina isn't even pretty. Oh sure, she had a fair amount of makeup. She's pretty much a sycophant, if I may say so myself. She's flirted with every single boy and she hates me. Wow. What a surprise? I hope you know I am being sarcastic. 

                Oh dear gracious Merlin! I really wanted James to ask me out. But what are the chances of that? I try so hard to make myself appealing to him, without knowing what he sees in Kristina that made him like her so much. Oh, I would like to think that he was trying to make me jealous. How stupid... I would ask him to ask me out if I could, but what would that make me? You know how timid I can be, especially with my number one crush. Now, whenever he looks at a girl, I get all tense and afraid that he might ask that girl to the ball instead of me. Oh dear. What _am_ I supposed to do? What if this is going to affect my studies? My parents aren't rich. They took out their lifesavings for me to go to this school. How could I fail them? I would never do such a terrible thing! Oh Merlin! Please help me. Anyone…

                Dearest Diary, I really don't know what to think now. I feel so…as I said, jumbled up. 

In distress,

Lily

A.N. How do you think? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease review!


	2. Chapter One

A.N. Here's the second chapter. Thank you to Eevee-Suicune Maiden for reviewing the story! 

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter but I will marry him one day!

If you have any questions, email me at Sunlight715@att.net. 

Lily tapped her quill lightly against her History of Magic notes and sighed softly. Professor Binns was droning on and on again in his famous monotone. Rolling her eyes, Lily still tried to hang onto every single syllable he was spitting out desperately, so she mightn't forget anything. She knew the class was probably wondering the same thing she was: how on earth can Professor Binns make the great wizard, Merlin, sound so boring!

                "Merlin, as we learned, put the sword Excalibur in the stone and Arthur drew it out and became king. But then, he disappeared from Camelot. The Lady of the Lake kidnapped him. Does anyone want to guess why. Nobody knows. Some say she liked him. Of course, at your age of sixteen, this is not something you should even think about. But she imprisoned him in his own magical castle, which nobody can break apart." He took a deep breath and flew a little. Lily looked at her notes in disgust. 

                Finally, the bell rang. Lily got up with a sigh and stretched herself. As she was preparing to put her parchments, ink, quill, and course books into her bag, the bag split open. A bottle of ink fell out and smashed. Luckily, she caught her books. James and Sirius walked past, laughing hysterically. Lily grew pink in the face. Then if that wasn't enough, James waved his wand and her books fell into the ink. Exasperated, Lily bent down and tried to pick them up. Kristina Romane and her best friend, Deborah Stevens, came by. 

                Kristina bent down, as if to help Lily. Lily mumbled, "Thank you."

                Kristina laughed and Deborah said, "You don't think we are helping you!" as they kicked her books far away and joined James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Lily held back her tears till they left. Then, tears splashing her robes, she cleaned out her books and fixed her bag. She lost her appetite, so instead of heading to supper in the Great Hall like everybody, she headed up to the Gryffindor tower. 

**~~*~~**

                It was the middle of December. 

                Snow was falling gently outside as Lily sat in the armchair, enjoying the quietness of the empty Gryffindor tower. Her tawny owl, Pedro, perched on her shoulder as she wrote a cheerful and fake letter to her parents and Petunia. 

                _I am enjoying my time here, _she wrote._ I am very happy. Love, your Lilac._

                Lily tied the note to Pedro's foot and patted his head. "Thanks, Pedro," she said and watched him fly off. She didn't like to go up to the Owlery. She could count on James and Sirius to put something there that would scare the owls when a person enters. Luckily, Pedro comes to visit Lily every evening so Lily didn't have to risk that. 

                It was a perfect time to study, she thought, as she opened her bag and took out her notes. She heard voices at the portrait hole, then, and out of curiosity, went there to listen. 

                "James, that's all you did? Spilling her book and ripping her bag?" said Kristina. "My god. I was hoping you ripped up her notes."

                "I hardly know which one is Evans till you pointed her out," said James sheepishly.

                "Anyway, set some Dungbomb in the common room!" suggested Deborah.

                Sirius said, "Hey, I've an idea!"

                There was whispering. Lily edged closer to the portrait hole. Just when she arrived, there was hysterical laughter from Kristina and Deborah. "Great idea!" said Kristina. "But afterwards, you will come for me?"

                "Of course, Krissie," said James.

                There seemed to be kissing or something, interrupted by a cough. "Um, James?" said Sirius. "It's time…Remus and Peter are waiting…"

                Lily quickly went back to her seat by the fireplace in the armchair, just as Kristina and Deborah entered. Lily wanted badly to curse them…kill them…as they had learned the Unforgiveables, Lily being a future Auror, but she knew she'd end up in Azkaban. Besides, she didn't want to hurt Kristina because then, James would look down upon her for hurting his _precious_ girlfriend…Lily didn't want her crush to hate her, on top of not knowing who she is.

**~~*~~**

                Naomi was Lily's closest roommate, who sometimes to her was like a friend. But Naomi was popular and didn't spend much time with Lily. However, that day, Naomi came inside the dormitory and said, blushing, "Remus asked me out!"

                Lily knew Naomi had a crush on Remus for years. Actually, almost all the girls in the tower are in love with more or less one of the Marauders. Except for Peter Pettigrew, of course. He was too stupid and clumsy to be liked much. "Congratulations!" said Lily, smiling up from her notes. 

                Naomi flopped down on her bed. "I know…" she said dreamily. Lily didn't interrupt Naomi after that.

                There was a knock on the door and Remus came in. Lily took the hint that Naomi gave her with a raise of her eyebrow and went outside. She found Pedro waiting. Pedro nipped her finger and flew off. Lily sighed. Her parents still didn't trust the idea of owl post, after nearly six years of Pedro visiting. 

                Hanging around with nothing to do, Lily leaned against the wall and looked at her watch. Her watch showed that it was December twentieth…almost the time for the Christmas ball. Of course, Kristina was asked by James already and Deborah by Sirius, although she knew Sirius liked Kristina also. She couldn't figure out why. Kristina wasn't smart enough to mix up the Love Potion! But then, she did hear that James and Kristina had grown up together. 

                Since she was deep in thought, she didn't hear James come over till he tapped her and said, "Hey, Evans, I mean, Lilac?" 

                Lily looked up. "Oh, hi," she said, feeling herself turning very red. _You want my notes, don't you?_

"Um, wantagototheballwithme?" said James quickly.

                "Um, in English?"

                "Want to go to the ball with me?" repeated James, turning a bit red himself.

                Lily found herself staring at him. Then, trying to sound nonchalant, she said with a shrug, "Sure."

                James said, "Okay, see you then!" and he disappeared quickly.

                Lily was still staring after him. But then, she realized what had happened. She was so full of joy that she almost ran to tell Naomi. Naomi whistled. "Wow! I didn't know James would pick you!"

            Slightly hurt, Lily didn't answer. She was busy, writing in her diary. She wanted to record all her happiness before reality takes over. For, a small voice in her head said, "You actually think James would fancy _you?_" in the exact same tone as Naomi. Shaking the thought away, Lily began to fantasize the wonderful Christmas ball…


	3. Chapter Two

A.N. I didn't do much spell and grammar check. So…anyway…hope you enjoy it. I dedicate this chapter to my crush, my James.

Disclaimer: No, it isn't mine. The characters, I mean…

Lily brushed her dark red hair again. It was now very smooth and shone. Her emerald eyes sparkled because of the excitement of James, taking her out to the ball. She had put on some Muggle lip-gloss and put on her best emerald dress robes. It clung to her slender figure nicely. She also wore her emerald earrings. 

                Naomi was dressed up also. Naomi was slightly pudgy, but still fair. Naomi looked at Lily in a critical way, but could find no fault. "You look great, Lily," said Naomi.

                "You too," said Lily, blushing.

                Lily sat on her bed as she watched Naomi leave the room eagerly to join her Remus. Lily hoped that James liked the smell of her shampoo. She did not know much wizard's shampoo. Taking out her mirror, she applied a light layer of lipstick on her lips. Her watch beeped, signaling that it was time for her to go down and meet James.

                Lily wasn't used to wearing high-heels, but she managed to get down to the common room without falling down the stairs. James was nowhere in sight. Couples in brightly colored robes were roaming around. Some of them headed out the portrait hole. Where _is_ James? She spotted Kristina, with her dirty blonde hair up in an ugly bun, talking with Sirius and Peter and flirting. Naomi and Remus were apart from them. Deborah was leaning on Peter, trying to learn how to flirt like Kristina. Suddenly, a few girls aahed and Lily spotted James, looking handsome in sky blue robes, coming down from the boys' dormitory.

                Towards her.

                Lily felt her heart stop as he stopped in front of her. Stiffly, he said, "You look very nice, Lilac."

                "Lily…call me Lily…" gasped Lily.

                James extended his right hand and Lily took it tentatively. "You look nice too," she said finally.

                "Thank you," said James. Lily felt as if she were with the Minister of Magic, speaking so formally, but she made no comment as she followed James out the portrait hole.

                "Jimmy, wait!" cried a voice behind them.

                Lily pretended not to hear. "We should get to the Great Hall sooner," she suggested, "so we get good seats." She paused. "And you can save some for Sirius, Remus, and Peter."

                James didn't answer, but he gave a slight nod.

                The Great Hall looked magnificent. Enchanted snowmen were there, singing Christmas carols with Christmas trees. Fairies fluttered around. The wallpaper showed different pictures of Father Christmas. Beams of different colored lights illuminated the Hall. In the middle of the Hall, there was a golden, sparkling stadium. 

                "The Circle of Circe is playing, a very famous group on the WWN," said James.

                Pretending she understood though she was too academic to follow music, Lily nodded. "I…um…think it's cool too," she stammered.

                Instead of the four House tables, small tables were positioned around the room, with vases of flowers upon it. James led her to an especially big one and sat her down. Narcissuses were the flowers there. Lily frowned, because a table with lilacs was right next to it. Somewhere in her mind, she'd heard someone say, "Narcissus is my favorite flower!" but she couldn't finger who. It couldn't be Kristina, could it?

                When everybody arrived, Professor Dumbledore stood up and raised a crystal goblet. Crystal goblets started appearing in front of every student too, and they raised it also. Lily listened as Dumbledore said, "This Christmas Ball is in honor of our first few victories against the forces of Lord Voldemort!"

                There was applause, but Lily noticed that some Slytherins, like Snape, did not clap or even seemed to be listening. "Let the Christmas Ball symbolize that we will never bow down to the darkness of evil!"

                He gulped down the contents of the goblet. Everybody followed suit. Then, they sat down. 

                A group of beautiful witches suddenly appeared on the podium. "They couldn't have Apparated," said Lily thoughtfully, having read _Hogwarts, A History_ two million times.

                "It's special effects, people who actually listens to the WWN knows that," said James.

                Embarrassed, Lily watched as the witches struck out a mournful tone on their instruments, whatever those are, when food appeared on their plates and menus beside the appetizers. James wolfed down his food while Lily tried to eat like a lady. Her heart started to pound again. _Will he ask me to dance?_

                As if on cue, James said, "Lily, would you like to dance with me?"

                "Sure, why not?" said Lily after some chewing, which she hoped looked thoughtful.

                Lily caught Naomi's eye as she went up to the dance floor, by the podium, and Naomi gave her a thumb-up. James put her hand on his shoulder and put his hand on her waist and they started revolving around. James closed his eyes to enjoy the music, _or is it me?_ Lily laid her head on his shoulder and he didn't object. 

_I am actually dancing! I am actually dancing!_

They danced four times. Lily couldn't have been happier. She couldn't have asked for more than this. James kissed her on the cheek as they left the dance floor that almost made Lily collapse with joyfulness. James took her back to the table and left abruptly.

                Lily got some sundae and ate, wondering how everything could be more perfect.

                She watched around for James, and spotted him near Sirius and Kristina. Kristina nodded something as James got four Galleons. Sirius slapped James' hand and Kristina linked her arm through James'. James led Kristina to the dance floor then.

                _Oh well. I know he likes me better!_ Lily tried to convince herself, but something wasn't quite right. 

                James and Kristina danced for a long time. Kristina kept on flirting with James even when dancing. Naomi suddenly came over, her face livid. "Oh my god, Lily, you won't believe this!"

                "What?" asked Lily, scared. "Are you okay?"

                Breathing steam, Naomi said, "That Kristina! She made a bet with both Remus and James! If they take either one of us out, for every dance they dance with us, they get a Galleon."

                Lily opened her mouth in shock.

                "What's more," continued Naomi. "She's told like about every girl in the whole school!"

                Lily felt her head burst. Before Naomi could say anything more, she pushed herself out of the crowd and into the girls' bathroom. There, she sobbed for a long time, till she ran out of tears.

                Sitting against the bathroom wall and hugging her legs to her chest, she tried not to think about this. Her head felt sore for some reason. Her heart pounded…oh, the thought of James…

                _No, Lily!_

Lily could not bring herself to hate James even after what he did. Finally, she got up and left the bathroom, somehow finding her way back to her dormitory. It was very dark. She couldn't help but feeling lucky that Filch didn't catch her and Peeves wasn't doing his usual routine of trying to find wandering students. Nice Christmas presents…she thought bitterly. She went to her bedside. 

Pinned to her pillow was an envelope. On the envelope was scrawled _Kristina._ She threw a disdainful look at the sleeping Kristina on the bed. She would deal with Kristina later…. 

                She took off the dress and the necklace and the earrings she had so excitedly put on, so full of hopes and happiness…of joy that her Prince Charming knew her…seemed to…if only she knew. She stared at them, as if they were part of the past she did not want to relive. Laying down on her bed, everything that had happened today overwhelmed her again. She gave dry sobs, because she had run out of tears.


	4. Chapter Three

A.N. Hi, I'm back. Sorry it took forever to update, but you see, I was lacking the motivation as I haven't seen my crush for a while. And you know what? When I saw him, I found out he lost his old charms that captured my heart. So sadly, I'm over him. 

The dance would be the worst thing that will happen to Lily in this story. Now…James will experience Lily's pain…and more!

Disclaimer: Ugh. I…do…not…own…Harry…Potter….

I dedicate this chapter to all you wonderful reviewers who made this story special!

What woke Lily up the next day was something she could never forgive James for doing.

                There was pandemonium down at the common room that Naomi and Lily woke up to find an empty dormitory. Naomi seemed to have gotten over everything and stretched sleepily. "Morning, Lily," she said. 

                A loud laughter made both of them jump.

                "It's Christmas Eve, for God's sake," said Lily groggily. She was too sleepy and tired to remember what had happened.

                Naomi flopped back on her bed again, but Lily pulled her up. "C'mon, get dressed," said Lily. "I'll bet your friends are going to avenge you or something."

                "Yeah, Catherine better do something, and so should Nancy," agreed Naomi. "Being seventh years, they have enough authority."

                Lily nodded.

                There was loud laughter again. Lily pulled on her robes without remembering that she didn't have class-she was too messed-up to think about these things, because images of the day before was starting to trickle back to her-she went downstairs and gave a scared yelp.

                Her beloved owl, Pedro…was turned bloody red! Kristina and James were arm in arm, laughing their heads off. People were catcalling and booing, some laughing, and pointing, and when Lily appeared, everyone shouted, "Here comes the goof! And a Prefect too!"

                Lily turned as red as her owl and her hair, at that.

                Suddenly, James stood up and said, "There's more." He held up a letter. Clearing his throat, he read, "Dearest Lilac, we all miss you soooo much…I am glad you said you are enjoying yourself…love, your parents and Petunia." He looked at Lily teasingly. "What mushy parents you have! Goes well with your owl, huh, _Lilac?_" Sirius and Remus started to get the boys and girls to boo again. A few girls at a corner, Naomi's crew, kept quiet as they seemed to converse among themselves.. 

                Lily couldn't take it anymore.

                _Ever since school started, you were always playing the worst pranks on me because of Kristina, even though you don't even know me that well!_ Lily wanted to scream._ Yes, you turned my hair the color of burnt leaves the first day and ripped up my homework and set off a dozen Dungbomb on Christmas Eve last year…. I still loved you and hoped the best for you…I am the one who got you out of trouble in your fifth year when you were accused of cheating…I got you out of trouble when Kristina put your diary in Professor McGonagall's office…but no, you were always mean to me. Well, I can only take that much._

                She whipped out her wand and changed Pedro back. Whining, Pedro flew to her dormitory, not the Owlery. 

                "THIS IS ENOUGH!" screamed Lily.

                All the noises stopped. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. People all stared at Lily. Could this be the nerdy Lily we all know? They must be wondering. 

                Lily was growing purple in the face. She shouted, "James Potter! You are going to pay for what you did to Pedro and me! You and all your stupid damn Marauders!"

                There was a slight whistle. The Prefect, the smartest witch of the year, cursed.

                Lily couldn't care less what they think. She pointed her wand at James. "I could kill you if I want," she shouted. "I learned the Unforgiveables, I did. If you put one more toe out of line, you are going to pay. No, I had had enough. You are going to pay. _You are going to pay. _Now. I will make sure of that."

                Naomi descended the stairs and started to clap. Her friends did too and soon, all of the first and second-years who just came down the stairs started to clap for Lily too. Lily smiled at her supporters quickly and stomped out of the common room, stopping and giving James a sharp kick.

**~~*~~**

                Lily walked aimlessly, or rather, wandered, for a while when she heard the last person she wanted to see that day's voice by a rusting suit of armor. But he was not speaking to her. 

                "I'm telling you, Nott," he was saying. "That James pops up everywhere. You know, I heard he was not supposed to go to Hogsmeade and he did, somehow."

                "Yeah. I heard he always manage to get packages of food while a stupid Gryffindor party is on…"

                "And believe me, he's always like getting into trouble, and somehow he's a Prefect and a Head Boy to be."

                "I wonder what's behind all these."

                "I'm telling you…"

                "If only we can catch it, it will be the end of him."

                "AND those stupid Marauders…"

                Lily leaned against the armor next to her, listening to the conversation with interest. Her heart pounded excitedly. There! Her chance to get back at James, dancing right in front of her. She closed her eyes, and imagined her triumph. Yes, she still loved James…but enough _is_ truly enough. Whatever signs of love he'd shown for her at the dance was purely artificial. She would do something, mirroring his.

                She quickly darted behind the armor when the two passed, still talking. A plan was growing inside her.

**~~*~~**

                Lily leaned against the painting of the fruits that led to the kitchen, wearing her new Invisibility Cloak that Catherine had lent to her. In her hand held the object that would ruin James' record forever. 

                A camera.


	5. Chapter Four

        A.N. I am back from vacation. It must've been two months or something. I really apologize. If you are still following the stories, then I really thank you for being such wonderful sports.

        Disclaimer: Lily and James don't belong to me.

The next week…

                Lily walked over to Naomi's desk at Transfiguration. "Did you?" she whispered excitedly.

                "Yes, of course, just this morning." Naomi grinned. "That was an awesome picture, Lily!"

                Lily grinned, pleased. "Thanks, Naomi."

                "Class will now come to order. Miss Evans, I hope that talking to people will help you in today's Transfiguration, because we are doing some quite advanced Transfiguring today."

                James and Kristina sniggered loudly. Lily ignored them and majestically sat down in an empty seat near the front of the room. She took out her course books, parchment, and quill, and started taking notes, copying them off the board as Professor McGonagall waved them up with a wave of her wand.

                "We will be doing some really hard transfiguration. It isn't like anything we've done before." She went to her desk and started to pick something up, but she stared at something instead. Lily and Naomi exchanged excited looks. But she pretended that nothing happened as she said, "We will now learn to transfigure ourselves. One of the most important charms you should know is the Bubble-Head Charm, but that is for Charms, which Professor Flitwick shall cover. First, let's start with something simple." She looked around. "Deborah, please come up."

                Deborah came up and stepped on Lily's foot in the process.

                "Now, look on her forehead," said Professor McGonagall, businesslike. "There is a pimple there. Now, girls, instead of using pus, a simple spell would remove it. It's called the Facial Removal Spell." She waved her wand and said, "Sajousni!" Instantly, the pimple shrunk and disappeared. 

                "I won't recommend that you do it to anything else but pimples, acne, and warts, and things of that nature," she said crisply, sending Deborah back. Deborah missed stepping on Lily's foot and instead got tripped. "Of course, you need to have a bit of research to get this.

                "I would request that each of you do an essay on this spell and how is it different from any ones we've done before. Three scrolls of parchment. Also, since I seriously don't want any contorted face here, bring your animal or pet, and if you don't have one, borrow one from the Owlery. Please, I don't recommend Mrs. Norris."

                People laughed.

                Lily was puzzled. Wasn't she going to say anything about James? Professor McGonagall gave them the pronunciation of this unusual spell and people were practicing, trying to get some pink light to shoot out of it.

                "Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin," said Professor McGonagall.

                Naomi flashed Lily a quick thumb-up as the boys went up. 

                Lily stopped practicing her spell and cocked her head to listen, as did the rest of the class. 

                Professor McGonagall picked up a piece of parchment. A picture of the four of them, taking some fried chicken wings from the house-elves, could be seen. "This was put by an anonymous person on my desk, sometime before class," said Professor McGonagall. "Who, I do not wish to pursue. But I understand that the four people in the picture are you."

                James tried to smile. "It's a joke, Professor."

                "A joke? I don't think so. Potter, you've gotten yourself into more trouble than anyone I've seen. Black, you are not very innocent either. What I am saying is, the house-elves aren't there to serve a bunch of rule-breakers. You will serve detention all this month." She looked at Remus. "On the fifteenth, I will excuse you. But you must make it up on the first of February." 

                Lily was interested. Why was Remus let off?

                Remus nodded. "We are really sorry."

                "I am afraid that you aren't, at all," said Professor McGonagall. "Detention would be to clean up the common room, which is the job of the house-elves. Perhaps since you are getting some elfish snack, perhaps some elfish work would do."

                She looked at the class.

                Everyone pretended to be practicing the spell again.

                When Lily got the pink light, Professor McGonagall called, "Class is dismissed."

**~~~*~~~**

                "That was awesome!" cried Naomi, giving Lily a five.

                "I know!" said Lily. "Why do you think she let Remus off for a day?"

                "Because he's cute," replied Naomi, blushing. 

                Lily nudged Naomi suddenly. Kristina and Deborah were passing by with the Marauders. They looked amused as the angry Marauders talked.

                "That was so unfair!" said James. "Who would try to frame us?"

                "Who knows?" said Deborah. "I bet it isn't that nerdy Evans!"

                "Evans my ass!" said Sirius. "That stupid girl is none of my concern right now. But our reputation! We were _never, ever_ caught! And we shouldn't be caught now!"

                Stupid Peter piped up. "But we are," he said.

                "Oh shut up, Peter!" said Kristina. "You can't go out with me for the rest of the month, then!" She pouted. "Ah, Jimmie, you don't want me to get a new boyfriend…"

                Deborah tried to say the same thing, but Sirius held up a hand. "Debbie, a word and you are history."

                Remus sighed. "So, are we setting that Dungbomb in Evans' room?"

                Lily balled her fists. She reached into the pocket of her overall and came up with a wadded piece of parchment. Naomi's eyes grew round. "Lily, this isn't you…"

                Just as James said, "We aren't wasting one on that crazy nerd!" Lily threw the ball and aimed perfectly, bouncing on the rims of the glasses and knocking it off. 

                The six of them turned back, but Lily pretended to be talking to Naomi.

                "That was plain creepy," said Deborah. "It could be the Bloody Baron." 

                "Scardy cat," mumbled James, accidentally crushing his glasses. "Come on, let's go to Charms."

            When they passed out of earshot, Lily and Naomi laughed and laughed. Suddenly, Lily got a gleam in her eyes again. "The Hogsmeade trip…" she whispered to herself.


	6. Chapter Five

                A.N. I'm sorry it took so long to update. The truth was, I really wasn't up to proofreading this chapter since I started high school. So now here it is. It might not be as consistent as the other chapters, and if you want romance, well…let's see…mm…that will be after Snape kicks in! You'll see what I mean. The main thing is that the L/J thing won't get in for a while because after all, James's still got his girlfriend. BUT I promise there will be a bit of romance…now, please r/r!

                Disclaimer: Let me see…do I own Lily? No. James? No. Harry Potter series? Yeah! I bought all the books, for god's sake! :p

_"Lily, do you want to dance with me?"_

_                Lily looked to her side and saw James Potter smiling at her sweetly. It was an empty dance floor, with the spotlight shining on the two of them and a beautiful waltz was playing. _

_                He took her hand and led her dancing. It was a quiet moment, yet Lily felt so much was said in this one moment. She leaned against James and he put an arm around her tenderly. The music gradually became faster and faster, till Lily and James were twirling a spectrum of colors._

Lily woke up. It was the morning and her alarm clock woke her up. She was a little annoyed with this. The dream had seemed so real. Perhaps it would've been, if it weren't for this clock. She gave a sigh and started to dress. It was the day of the Quidditch game against the Slytherins. The Gryffindor team had three great players and four bad ones. They had never won a game because the other teams' Seekers are all better than this one. She wrinkled her nose at the thought. Peter Pettigrew as the Seeker was the worst thing that could ever happen! She wondered why Remus Lupin couldn't be.

                Naomi woke up while Lily was writing in her diary. "Hey, it's the big game today," she said. "I hope James score enough points to make up for Peter's dumbness."

                "That won't happen," Lily said. And as Kristina was listening, she couldn't help adding, "Since you all know, a person with a terrible girlfriend can't function normally."

                "That's why you shouldn't be his girlfriend," Kristina put in loudly.

                "Yeah, since you don't want him to function normally enough to see that you are a slut!" Lily called after she and Deborah as they descended the stairs."

                Naomi observed, "You changed, Lily. I don't think it's very normal of you to change like this. In this week, you've said more than you've ever said in two years."

**~*~*~*~**

                "Aaaaaaaaand James Potter is up with the Quaffle with the Beaters, Henry Bones and Michael Harrison circling him in case of injury!" 

                The commentary, Sirius Black, shouted.

                Lily watched as the only good players on the team headed for the goal posts. Peter, the dumb Seeker, was heading for someone's watch. She groaned. The Keeper of the Slytherin goal, Aamir Lestrange, dove and tried to block James. He missed and Gryffindor scored.

                "Aaaaaaaaand it's one sixty to nothing!" boomed Sirius. Except for the sea of the greens, everybody cheered. Severus looked ready to kill.

                "Perhaps they could win," a girl next to her said. "That is, if the Seeker is dumb enough to catch the Snitch."

                Lily bit her lips. James suddenly scored another one, pulling the score to one seventy. 

                "The Gryffindor Seeker is now heading for the ground! Is that streak of gold what I think it is?" cried Sirius Black. "The Slytherin Seeker, Erik Nott is right after him! Let's hope it's not a Wronski Feint!"

                Peter crashed as he made a wild grab with his hands. The Gryffindors all winced. Nott suddenly fell too, but he waved a golden ball in his hand. "I GOT THE SNITCH!" he shouted. 

                The crowds erupted. The Gryffindors actually…_won?_

                Kristina knocked Lily "accidentally" in her wild attempt to hug James, but of course, nobody would let her. The team was yelling and cheering. Some Ravenclaw girls even went and kissed James. 

                Lily was happy for the first victory too. Perhaps…just perhaps…the Slytherin won't win the House Cup this year. Naomi tapped her on the shoulder. "Want to go and cheer for James?" she asked. "Nothing personal."

                Lily shook her head. "I need to go to the bathroom," she lied. "Tell the team I said congratulations."

                But she couldn't help thinking about her dream again and had a crazy urge to hug and kiss James and told him that she forgave him. _No, Lily._

                The Gryffindor common room was noisy that night. Lily had expected no food since…well, the Marauders were caught there already. However, to her surprise, Remus passed around a plate of Hogsmeade chocolate. Of course, it was never surprising before. She supposed that Peter or Remus, who were usually not always in trouble, had bought a surplus and saved some. Yet there was no recent Hogsmeade trip, since one was coming up next week. How could this be? She frowned. Yup. She decided that though Naomi and Nancy told her not to think about how James and Sirius got into Hogsmeade during trip times, she was going to anyway.

                _Could it be that they just got back from Hogsmeade?_

The thought haunted Lily so much that she didn't eat the chocolate. She just thought about the next Hogsmeade trip. One more try wouldn't hurt. Then she could go and love James in peace again.

**~~~*~~~**

                Lily quietly waited patiently outside. The people who were supposed to go to Hogsmeade had gone. She was wearing the Invisibility Cloak and a camera. She had to listen carefully, because she knew that the Marauders would be invisible too. Meanwhile she tried to make no sound.

                She didn't know how long she waited when she heard Peter's voice saying, "The mirror? We never used that one!"

                "That's why we are using it today!" barked Sirius's voice. "The mirror on the fourth floor behind the statue of Jennifer the Justified."

                Lily's heart jumped. That was the pretty one with the gild edges! What on earth would that mirror do? She held her breath and steadied herself. 

                "The incantation is _ammoniums. _See the Marauder's Map."

                Lily heard the rustling of a parchment and James' voice saying, "C'mon, let's go."

                Lily leaned against the wall, thinking quietly. She shook her head a few times and got up, and after the footsteps grew fainter, she followed quickly. 

                On the fourth floor, she spotted the mirror quite quickly. She touched the gild edges and gave a gentle push. But it didn't seem to be movable. She took off her cloak and folded it and stuffed in her pocket under her cloak. She tapped the mirror lightly. Professor McGonagall passed and said, "Well, Miss Evans, having a bad hair day?"

                Lily jumped. "Oh, hi. Sort of, I guess."

                "Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade?" Professor McGonagall's eyes scanned Lily's guilty face closely. "I am going there just now."

                "I figured I need to work on my essay on the werewolves," Lily quickly lied, surprised at the smoothness she voiced out the words.  

                "Indeed," Professor McGonagall with a weird look. "Well, the library is _that_ way. And Lily Evans needs to…work on an _essay?_ I'd think you finished already."

                "Of course, of course," Lily said hurriedly. "Just wanting to make sure I looked nice enough." 

                Professor McGonagall studied her. "You know, Miss Evans, if it were anyone else, I'd say that he or she was hiding something from me, or _lying_, or trying to make mischief." She looked at Lily even more carefully. "You don't seem to be that kind of a person, so I won't hamper you. By the way, have you seen James? He was supposed to come and give me a late report." She shook her head and walked off.

                Lily breathed quickly. _No more examining the mirror!_ She told herself and took out her wand. "A_mmoniums!" _she hissed and the mirror dissolved to reveal a path. Lily just stared for a moment and then she heard footsteps. She quickly jumped onto the path and the light coming from outside disappeared. She was inside a rocky, dark tunnel. She whipped out her wand and whispered, "_Lumos!_" and with the wand's light, she saw a note on the floor. She picked it up. _Remus, that was a close one. I know, James._ It was dated January sixteenth. 

                Lily pushed away the thought. They were just trying to escape the detention or something. She did not recall that it was the day after the day in which Remus could be let off. 

                The tunnel was quite short, to Lily's surprise, but the exit was on top. It took her a while to get out, and she climbed out with hardship, and found herself…just outside the Three Broomsticks.

                She noticed that the exit fitted into the ground perfectly, hardly noticeable. Nobody had noticed her suddenly popping out of the ground, or perhaps thought it was a Zonko trick. Lily looked around and peeked inside the shop. There they were! Sirius and James, talking to Madame Rosmerta animatedly, as if nothing was wrong. Peter and Remus were drinking Butterbeer and flirting with a few girls nearby.

                _That will be the last time they'd be able to use this!_ Lily grinned and went to join Naomi, who was giggling like an idiot as Remus flirted.

**~~~*~~~**

                "Today, we will talk about the goblin rebellion of 1923…" droned Professor Binns.

                The class was restless. The air was stuffed. It was Valentine's Day, and Lily really didn't want to spend the rest of the class listening to Professor Binns when she was ready to carry out her plan. Yet her hand was busy taking neat complete notes despite herself.

                When class was finally done, the Gryffindors hurried out. Naomi approached Lily. "Well, Lily, figured out how the Marauders had been sneaking out of Hogwarts?"

                Lily shrugged. "Did Kristina say something about a Valentine's Day party?"

                Naomi nodded. "Yes, I can't wait. I haven't had any of the Hogsmeade chocolate since the last trip. The Marauders always managed to get some."

                Lily was silent. Had James not played that awful prank on her, she would've thought that they got the candy from other friends. But something drove her to learn the truth. She wondered if she should tell Naomi this, but she didn't. She vowed this was going to be her last prank or she'd suffer a painful death.

                Naomi was busy asking Lily details of the class and to disguise herself as to not to arouse suspicion of her prank, Lily said everything in a very detailed manner. She pretended to be studying during dinnertime, or looking at the huge pink decorations on the Gryffindor table, no doubt another masterpiece of the Marauders.

                Professor McGonagall asked the party to last shorter than the one celebrating the Quidditch victory and afterwards, left for her office. She never really meant those warnings, for she knew the earliest they could've ended was still past the curfew. As soon as she stepped out, James and Peter got up. Sirius and Remus were entertaining everyone. Lily grinned slightly. 

                "Naomi, I need to use the bathroom," she said quietly to her friend, whose eyes were fixed on Remus. Naomi could hardly answer her, so Lily shrugged and left the common room without anyone paying a bit of attention to her. She waited a few minutes and when she was sure that James and Peter were gone, she hurried up the mirror and froze when she saw Severus.

                "Well, well, if it isn't Evans, chasing after her little crushy! I saw him going around this place!" sneered Severus. "You might as well know, James made it clear that he had no feelings for you, you big nerd! I mean, you can't even fall asleep in History of Magic?" 

                Lily tightened her fist. Severus shrugged. "Oh well. I mean, who'd want you? And training to be an Auroress…the wizarding world might as well just surrender! James was making fun of your speech the other day." He was referring to her speech when she was appointed as the head Auroress of the extra Auror class.

                _Well, that was expected._ Lily did not speak. She merely walked past him. When his footsteps disappeared in the distance, she went to the mirror and went in. However, she did not follow the Marauders.

                "_Hoolnocks!_" she shouted, pointing her wand at the tunnel. It caved in instantly.

                Satisfied, Lily got out of the tunnel. Now how would James the big shot get out of _this?_

                "Happy Valentine, _Jimmie_," Lily mocked in Kristina's voice, and prepared herself to enjoy a Gryffindor party. She didn't notice that a shadow was spying her. Severus Snape was staring open-mouthed at her. "Potter…your downfall is near…" he spat as he, too, disappeared in the shadows.

A.N. Sorry if it's a bit rushed. The next chapter will probably be rushed so the romance can start quicker or something. I hope you liked it! Now you know how come the passageway behind the mirror is caved in right? (Referring to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter the Marauder's Map.) 


	7. Chapter Six

                A.N. Okay, this chapter seriously, and I mean _seriously_, lack proofreading. I had just finished typing it. Tell me if there's any typo and I would change it. Right now I'm too lazy. ::snore:: Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I'm really happy that I got reviews. I love all of you reviewers! If it weren't for you, I might've dropped this stories already. 

                Oh, by the way, I thought that the mirror passage was caved in _already_ before Fred and George used it. Now I reread it and noticed I was wrong. So yeah, let's just say that it was another mirror. Okay? 

                Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of this. I mean, how do you expect me to make money on this? I do not own Harry Potter. Yet.

Lily was disappointed, of course, when she found out that James and Peter weren't caught the next day. Sure, they returned with the food a little bit late, but otherwise nothing really happened. Yet she kept true to her vow and decided to let everything drop. Besides, it wasn't as if she didn't like James anymore. _At least now I can love him in peace._

                However, although Lily had no plans, Snape did.

                Nothing really happened for a long time. Everything was normal. Lily was again the bookworm, the nerd, the Prefect, everything but a vengeful girl. The Marauders still played tricks on her once in a while, and whenever she sees James and made eye contact she tried not to blush. Gryffindor again had peace and defeats in Quidditch.

                Really, it was really very normal for a while.

                Months passed. It was now April. April fifteenth, to be exact. According to Trelawney, it would be a full moon tonight. Lily yawned slightly as she opened her eyes to the warm spring sunshine. Since it was a weekend day, her roommates were still sleeping. Pedro was here with another letter. It was a short note asking how she was doing. She'd write the reply later. 

                "Thanks," said Lily as she got up, watched Pedro soar back to the Owlery, changed quickly, and went down to the common room. She didn't feel like eating breakfast that day. She simply wasn't hungry.

                Lily thought about going outside, but she didn't exactly wanted to. She didn't have any friends to hang out with outside anyhow. Perhaps she'd visit that mirror again. Haven't seen that mirror for a while.

                As Lily was walking through the corridors, a hand tapped her on the shoulder. It was Severus Snape. "Hello, Lily," he said very softly. Lily did not turn around. She merely said, "Get your hand off of me."

                Snape grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn around. She looked him straight in the eye, her green eyes flashing. "What do you want, Severus Snape!" 

                "I want to say thank you," Snape whispered softly. "Is that any wrong?"

                "You're very welcome," Lily said coolly. "Now if you please, I need to go!"

                Snape crossed his arms and smiled wickedly. "James and his crew aren't going to be here for long, my dear Evans. You might want to make a play for him…when you still have the chance."

                Lily didn't ask him why. Obviously that was a hollow threat. "Just shut up!" she said. "What did I ever do to you? Weren't you just thanking me?"

                Snape laughed. "Yes, yes, of course I was," he said. "You helped me to find a way to do something to your little Jimmie." He grinned toothily. "How can I _not_ thank you?"

                And then he walked off laughing. Lily just stood there, not fully comprehending what had just happened. What does he mean? How did Lily help Snape in any way at all? Lily gave a slight shrug. Oh well. It wasn't her business.

**~~~*~~~**

                That night, Lily sat reading a book next to the fireplace, still wondering about Snape. Her curiosity always got the better of her. She stole glances at the Marauders too. They looked agitated and nervous. James kept on glancing at his watch. Kristina was flirting with him furiously but he didn't seem as eager as usual. Perhaps Lily was just imagining it. But she remembered the last time. She remembered clearly the words before they played the Christmas Ball trick on her.

                _"It's time…Remus and Peter are waiting…"_

                And that was a full moon day also. _But you promised you won't play anymore tricks!_

_                I am not playing any tricks. I'm just wondering!_

                The two thoughts in Lily's mind clashed with each other. Suddenly, the thought of Snape popped out in her mind again. He did thank her, did he? The more she thought about everything, the more confusing it had gotten. It had been what, two months since the last trick. Something must be happening today. And again, she thought of something else. Professor McGonagall excusing Remus off on another full moon!

                "Full moon, full moon," muttered Lily slowly, turning her book carelessly. _Werewolves transform at full moon every month…they are dangerous…_ the words of Professor Kettleburn rang in her head. _Full moon…full moon…Remus excused…waiting…where?_

                Lily was thinking so hard that when she was back to the common room again the Marauders had disappeared. She checked her watch. It was past curfew. Whatever!

                She bounded out the door and started to run toward the mirror, but ran into Snape. Snape looked surprised to see her. "Evans, what are you doing here? Are you off to find James also?"

                "What do you mean? What did you mean before in the morning?" Lily gasped.

                Snape's lips curled back into an awful smile. "The Whomping Willows. Black had taught me how to work the Whomping Willows and goaded me to go there." His smile grew bigger. "You know what that means, don't you?"

                "No, I don't," Lily said. "They are in the Whomping Willow? That's dangerous!"

                "For you, that is," Snape replied coldly. "Sirius happened to tell me today, and I happened to want to go and see!"

                "But it's the full moon! It's dangerous!" Lily cried before she could stop herself. "Full moon!"

                "Yeah, what about it?" Snape asked mercilessly. "Want me to stay home and watch the moon from the balcony? If they are truly there, I can report them to McGonagall."

                "You'd be caught too!" 

                "So what? They are four, five if Evans you are there. I will only be one. Anyone who can do some Muggle math knows that Gryffindor will have more points deducted."

                Lily threw up her hands in disgust. "AHH! Just shut up! Go if you want then! Let me tell you that it's the full moon!"

                She started to walk away, trembling and didn't know why. No, it wasn't the knowledge that they had other tunnels and places, which was why the loss of the mirror tunnel didn't amount to much. No, that wasn't it.

                But…Remus…could he really be a werewolf? Lily shook her head in disgust. The full moon was probably something else altogether. Snape was probably just lured into another trick. _You are getting paranoid!_ She tried to relax and after a while more of wandering, she found herself back at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

**~~~*~~~**

                As it turned out, Lily found out that it was a lot more than just a trick. Snape had nearly been killed. Not that it would be bad…

                Gossip traveled fast, especially if you had Naomi as your roommate. Soon, Lily heard out the whole version (supposedly genuine) of the whole thing.

                "See, Sirius goaded Snape to the Whomping Willow," Naomi was talking animatedly to her group of friends and Lily. "The thing was that you know the danger of the Whomping Willow, ever since it was planted five years ago. But Snape didn't happen to know that, so he went and almost got killed. Obviously the other Marauders weren't too innocent either."

                The story left an empty feeling in Lily. Lily didn't think it was the Whomping Willow that was wrong. If anything, it _wasn't_ the Whomping Willow at all.

                It was Remus. He _was_ a werewolf.

                Lily chilled slightly. Could she have been part of it too? Should she have told Snape about her theory? He wouldn't have listened. It wasn't as if she didn't try.

                That bothered her. But Snape wasn't killed. And not injured at all, because Kristina's "Jimmie" played hero. Just hear her across the common room to the heroic epic of her sweetheart.

                "Whatever," Lily muttered to herself. "James deserved this, supposedly. Besides, it wasn't as if I didn't want this, other than the points taken off of Gryffindor."

**~~~*~~~**

                It was time for another Hogsmeade trip. This time, the Marauders weren't "grounded" and so they went candidly. Lily went too, because she wanted to buy some owl treats for Pedro and perhaps something for her parents. And maybe something nasty for Petunia, who was bragging about how she'd be accepted to Cambridge.

                After Lily had bought all the stuffs, for once she'd like to see the Shrieking Shack. She couldn't understand how a house could be haunted. Sure, ghosts exist. Nearly Headless Nick was a good example, but those vengeful ghosts seemed to be surreal. She had never visited the place before-she was pretty scared of ghosts. But now, she started to be skeptical of everything. After what James did to her.

                She was walking up the road to the Shrieking Shack when someone grabbed her hair, hard. She turned around angrily, to see nobody behind her at all. 

                Now, it would be a lie to say Lily wasn't scared, because she was.

                "AAHHH!" she yelped, as something grabbed at her again. And again. She started to run, yet the wrong way, because she was running farther and farther away from Hogsmeade. Chuckles accompanied her mad escape from the unseen creature. 

                Lily dropped the bags and parcels she'd been carrying. And then she started to have second thoughts. Weren't a ghost supposed to be…ghostly? In other words, wasn't a ghost not able to bound into someone, as this "ghost" was doing now. she had a pretty good idea of what was happening already as she threw a parcel at the air, or hopefully the prankster.

                "Ouch!" said a male voice, and James' head appeared as the hood of the Invisibility Cloak was knocked off.

                "You!" spat Lily. "That wasn't exactly entertaining." Pause. "And where are your cronies? Did Kristina ask you to do this?"

                James just smiled. And then his face hardened. "It's personal," he growled.

                Lily had to admit that he appeared to be scary now. "What did I do?" she asked. 

                "Lots of things," James replied sweetly. "Want me to name a few?" He didn't wait for an answer. "How about that picture of us you put on McGonagall's desk?"

                _Play dumb._

                "Picture?" Lily tried to be puzzled.

                "Stop being so innocent, Evans! You are one of the few idiots who actually brought _Muggle_ cameras to school. And let me tell you. Ruining James Potter's reputation of the incredible troublemaker is not very smart! I had never been caught before. And that wasn't it. Why did you ruin my best passage? That one, behind the mirror?"

                "How do you know that it was me?" Lily demanded. "Why would I waste my time doing things to you, James? Stop thinking so highly of yourself!"

                She was actually exhilarated that she was talking to James, and James actually noted her presence as Lilac Evans, not was a bookworm or nerd or anything. Well, perhaps as a mean person seeking revenge, but otherwise, she liked this. She hadn't felt this close to James since Christmas.

                "Severus Snape told us," James said quietly. "You caved the passage in on Valentine's Day, when we were getting food…for _you,_ you ingrate!"

                "You believe _him?"_

                "We were almost caught!" continued James. "And yes, Snape's information is trustworthy. Which was why Sirius told him about the little trick." 

                "And want him to be eaten by a werewolf!" 

                James opened his mouth. His eyes widened. "How did _you_ know?" he yelled. "Wait, that isn't it. Anyway, you owe the Marauders a lot. And you are going to pay!" 

                He grabbed her shoulder and raised his right hand to strike. Lily winced and said, "You aren't supposed to hit a girl."

                "You aren't a _girl_," he spat. "You are a witch!"

                "Am I not supposed to be a witch?" asked Lily, but James struck. 

                He slapped her face so hard that she fell down and hit her head. The right side of her cheek was stinging with pain and now her head felt as if it would burst. 

                "After we were caught and our map confiscated, I've been looking for a chance, Lily! Doing things against James Potter, number one troublemaker, will gain nothing!" 

                James kicked her. Lily stayed on the ground, not wanting to get up. 

                Suddenly, he stopped. 

                Lily wondered as she watched him for a moment. He seemed to be petrified. Gasping with pain, she raised herself up with her right arm and saw.

                A Dark Mark was floating up in the sky of the whatever place they were in.

                And Lord Voldemort. 

                He was walking toward them, smiling maliciously. "Ah, free hostages…" he said with a big grin. "Not very smart to step into my territory by yourselves, lovers."

                He started to laugh madly. Then he waved his wand and everything started spinning. Lily fainted then, and when she woke up, she was in a stone cell.

A.N. That was pretty long, wasn't it? Thanks for reading the whole chapter. The next probably won't come out for a while. I'm working on another fic. The thing is, when you have three pennames and each must have a different fic, your brain might explode. Review please!


	8. Chapter Seven

A.N. Hello, my lovely readers! I decided that no drastic romance would happen yet. So, so far, it's just that James stopped seeing Lily as a slug. Sorry it took a while to post, but heck, I had no idea that teachers plot together to give you two hundred tests in the same week! ARRGH! So anyway, enjoy this chapter and please review? I will bring in slightly more romance in the next chapter.

Thank all of you so much for your reviews! I am so happy to see them! All of you get a thousand Galleons for being simply wonderful supporters!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in J.K. Rowling's books. If I do, however…well, you don't want to know!

To a friend-although you will never read this, I just want to say that I'm sorry.

Lily looked around in anguish. Oh Merlin, where was she?

                She closed her eyes and muttered, "I will count to three. Everything will be fine again. One…two…three."

                Her eyes opened. She was still in the cell.

                She looked around and spotted an unconscious James near the corner. Rubbing the bruises, she would dearly love to give him a few kicks. If it weren't for him and his brutal acts, she could be having butterbeer in her dormitory right now, or doing whatever she'd be doing at seven, the time according to her watch.

                "Where are we?" James asked groggily, waking up finally. He took in his new surroundings and jumped to his feet. "What the? Where _are_ we, Lily?"

                "Hmmm," Lily said, trying her sarcasm. "Let me see…this place is made out of stones and has no windows or way out. Hey, maybe it's some place that Voldemort has imprisoned us! Won't _you_ say?" She rolled her eyes to annoy James, but James was too taken aback to hit her again.

                "_Voldemort?_" he repeated in disbelief. "It's a sick joke, Lily! It's not April Fool's Day, you know!"

                Lily ignored him. "If I did this," she said hotly. "I'd never have put myself with you, you…you big jerk! And if we are going to keep on arguing like this, we'd stay here and rot to death, that is, if Voldemort isn't going to kill us first!"

                That shut James up.

                After a moment of silence, Lily sighed. "Right, so what we need is a plan."

                James raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak.

                "So let's have a truce, shall we?" Lily suggested timidly. She eyed James, who was looking anywhere but her. _Well, that's going to be easy to call a truce!_ She thought sarcastically, as she grew slightly annoyed that James would hate her so much for no reason. "Look, James, if we get out of here, you can continue hating me, but for now, let's just say that you'd hate me without violence. How does that sound?"

                "Suits me I guess," James agreed grudgingly. "I won't hit you. Now, how do you think Voldemort is going to kill us?"

                "Good question," said Lily. "But what if he doesn't want to kill us?"

                "Right," James said in a tone that said clearly it wasn't right. "We are going to get out of here in one piece. I believe you very much."

                Lily tried not to let herself curse James and turn him into a slug. Then she fingered her pocket and drew out her wand in surprise. "Would you look at this?" she said in wonder. "He's toying with us."

                James stared at his wand and for once, Lily could tell he agreed. "That's very simple then!" he cried. "_Reducto!"_ and he pointed his wand at the wall, looking quite confident that the spell would do something that'd help them.

                Instead of blasting open the stone wall, the spell bounded back and kept on bouncing off the walls till at least, it died out by itself. Lily was trying not to laugh and cry at the same time. She wanted to laugh because it all seemed so ridiculous and cry because it seemed hopeless to get out of here. But she wanted to do neither because James was with her, and she had no intention of letting him see her emotions. "Well…" she finally managed to find a neutral sentence. "Umm…that didn't work, did it?"

                James had a weird expression on his face. "What kind of dark magic is this?" he muttered to himself, as he felt the walls and tapped them. It sounded hollow to Lily, and she knew it sounded the same to James, because he had placed his wand to the wall and frowned to think of a spell.

                "It's no use, you fool," said a quiet voice, echoing in the cell. "Unlike your Muggle-loving headmaster, I know advanced spells and one of them, which wards off _weak_ little charms and spells, is perfect for idiotic idiots like you."

                There was no need to say that the voice belonged Voldemort.

                "What do you want with us?" asked James furiously. 

                "What can I do with you?" said the voice in a toying tone, as hints of smirks could be heard. "I want information about the Auror training groups…the order…your plans to sabotage my final destiny! And perhaps…some fear from my dear old Albus Dumbledore!"

                Before any of them could speak further, the room suddenly started to whirl and when it stopped, they were in a room with a robed figure with a hood over his face. 

                Voldemort.

                Alone.

                "Come, girl," he said very quietly, gesturing Lily toward him. "Come."

                Lily's legs shook and wobbled but it carried her to a few feet in front of the figure nonetheless. She could swear she heard James' heart pound loudly in his chest. She didn't have to look around to know that this room was sealed, just as any other rooms, and there was no means of escape except by spells, powerful charms or curses.

                "I won't hurt you," Voldemort said lazily. "Don't look so scared."

                "I…I'm not scared!" 

                But she was. A sense of foreboding was shadowing over her, as all hopes died out from her. She _would_ stay in this place, wherever and whatever it was, and rot! She'd even started to miss Petunia. But she would never let Voldemort see that. She held her face up as defiantly as she could manage and tried to look into his eyes without flinching, but she couldn't.

                "Don't be a fool, you Mudblood," he said quietly. "I will let you live, and the boy too, if you tell me two things." His eyes glittered. "Two."

                He didn't wait for confirmation. "Are you a member of the Auror class? I am sure you are. Do you know anything about the Order of the Phoenix?"

                Of course Lily knew. It was an order put together for the best Auror and Auroress, one which she'd hoped she'd be able to enter. But she put on a blank face and said, "Excuse me?"

                "You are not excused," he said coldly. "Do you plan to tell me or not?"

                "No, because I don't know," she said. "Nor would I know the answer to your next question!"

                Although Lily sounded brave, she wasn't. Not even close to it. She was about to faint because she was so frightened. Perspiration coated her forehead. Yet she was determined not to be weak.

                "Do you know any of the planned attacks on us?"

                She didn't know the answer to this one, so she said truthfully, "No, I don't."

                Voldemort did not speak. For a terrible long moment, there was not a sound except for the pounding of James' heart. Lily wondered what James was thinking but she couldn't be sure. "You!" he ordered, and it took Lily a minute to realize she wasn't being spoken to. "Come!"

                Lily watched as James forced himself forward, his eyes filled with terror.

                "Is she a part of the Auror class?" a light pause and "If you can tell me anything, I will send you back to Hogwarts."

                _Well, that's the death of me! Of course James would give me away to save himself! Well, perhaps dying isn't that bad…no, I don't want to die! I want to live so damn much!_

                Lily swallowed and tried to moisten her lips as she watched James, fingers shaking slightly. 

                "I…don't know," he answered.

                "Isn't she your girlfriend?" Voldemort pressed on, as Lily breathed a sigh of relief and decided to thank James…if they managed to get out of this mess.

                "I have better taste than that!"

                _All right, Lily. What did you expect? That James would suddenly fall in love with you? Give it up!_

                Voldemort narrowed his eyes slightly, and drew out a wand slowly. Lily reached inside her pocket for her wand, except it wasn't there. Slowly, Voldemort pointed the wand at Lily and smiled. "Perhaps some encounter with the Cruciatus Curse would convince you," he said.

                Lily tensed. "It…it wouldn't!"

                "No?" 

                It was that toying voice again, with a hint of mock pity in its tone. Lily tried to get mentally upset, because after all, some magic would happen if that happened, right? She shook slightly, but nothing happened. When she opened her eyes again, she still had that wand pointed right at her.

                "No."

                It wasn't Lily who answered; it was James, who was staring at the wand, eyes wide open. 

                "I did not remember asking you, my boy," Voldemort said. Then he muttered, "_Crucio!"_ and Lily suddenly felt as if two hundred knives were pressing into her skin at the same time, while her heart was being torn out and her eyeballs being picked. She screamed at the pain of it all. Never had she anticipated such torture. And mixed with her howls, were James'. 

                For a long moment, she was aware that Voldemort was watching them suffer with glee. But she couldn't describe her pain. It was beyond the power of words to describe such heart-wrenching pain. She tasted blood; she bit her lips too hard. The kicks from James seemed like Pedro pecking her affectionately compared with this. 

                And then, everything whirled again and the two of them fell back into their cell, Lily landed on top of James. The pain had receded, as Lily struggled to get up, but it still ached all over, and she was shaking. It was worse than dying! Shakily, she tried to raise herself, and she managed. She stood up slowly and was surprised that she didn't have any marks of torture upon her. _How nice,_ she thought dryly. _He thought to give me a whole body._ And her wand was back again, to torture her with the knowledge that it wouldn't help at all.

                She eyed James, who had managed to sit up. "You okay?" she asked, concerned.

                Expecting a rough reply saying that it was her fault, she was surprised to hear him say, almost gently, "Yeah, you?" and he added, slightly jokingly. "You were pretty brave for a nerd."

                Lily smiled. "Thanks…for not giving me away back then."

                Was that a smile playing at James' lips? "The truce, remember?" he said, his voice light.

                If only the moment would freeze forever! Lily carefully lowered herself next to James, due to the lack of space, and both of them sat there in the cell, not speaking as they stared at the stone wall. Lily did not think about the horrible pains tearing at her mind and her body as she sat next to her crush, who for once did not edge away in disgust. So what if he was too tired? She didn't care. James started to snore softly. Lily looked at him and smiled. Then she realized she was tired too.

            Without meaning to, she leaned on his shoulder and fell asleep.

A.N. Like it? As I said, that's not much of a romance. ::people starts snorting:: Okay, it has absolutely no romance. There! But I promise that (or hopefully) a kiss is coming. However, if the romance develops suddenly, it won't make sense, so I'm taking it as it goes. Okay? 


	9. Chapter Eight

A.N. I apologize that it took so long to post this chapter, but I hit a block since the plot line is ancient and I forgot how it was supposed to go already. Well, this chapter contains a slight amount of L/J. Enjoy! Hopefully…

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned here.

"I won, again," said James triumphantly, slapping down five cards.

Lily snorted. It was the third day since they'd been captured, and since James happened to find a deck of Exploding Snap in his pocket, all they've been doing was playing cards. And losing, in Lily's case. It was rather ironic that of all the romantic things that could happen, this was what was happening.

However, Lily couldn't complain. Voldemort had kindly remembered to feed them cold spaghetti for every meal, but James, being the wizard he was, transfigured them into something more savory every time. So basically, she and James were well fed and doing okay, except for the fact that they could be killed any time.

"Can we do something else?" demanded Lily. "Isn't this kind of boring and repetitive now? We deal. We play. I lose. You win."

"That's the fun of it all!" James said mischievously.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Any ideas on how we'd get out of here?" she asked, twirling her wand while glaring at James. "Or would you rather starve and die here? Personally, I'd like _that_, but-"

"Oh be quiet!" James muttered. "Right, so the school probably noticed that we're gone already. Honeymooning." Lily blushed slightly. "So Kristina, in her jealous rage, will force Dumbledore to organize a search party for us. No worries, Lilac! We'd be found in about ten years, given the reliability of the Ministry of Magic."

"Er…wow," was Lily's sarcastic comment.

"Or," James said, shrugging. "We'd die and rot here. Really, it's not that bad. I haven't won any card games ever since I met my fellow Marauders."

"And I haven't lost any card games," Lily said. "Oh for goodness' sakes, say something rational for once!"

James actually grew sober. He leaned against the wall of the cell and faced her with his dark brown eyes fixed on her face. "All right," he said quietly. Lily gulped for some reason. "Tell me why you played all these tricks on us. I thought _we_ were the Marauders, not you."

"Because you were mean to me, that's why!" Lily said indignantly. "Why else?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I don't even know you!" James replied just as indignantly. "You were just this nerdy girl who Kristina and Deborah both hate. What exactly did we do? Look, the pranks we did to you were the same exact ones as the pranks we did to everyone else. In fact, you got it easy! Amos Diggory woke up with ten cockroaches in his mouth once."

Lily tried not to envision the scenario. "The dance, the freaking Ball!" she cried angrily. "Don't you remember? You and your nice girlfriend played that wonderful stunt on me and humiliated me in front of I don't know how many people!" She paused for a minute. "And afterwards you have the guts to gloat about it! Now you don't think that I'd actually let you get away with it, now would I?"

James seemed taken aback. "Kristina said that you won't mind," he said slowly. "Besides, from what I've heard of you from her, you are quite a flirt."

_What on earth…?_ Lily stood up and nearly hit her head on the low ceiling. "Why is it that everything you did to me is because of Kristina? What did I ever do to you?" James opened his mouth to retort. "No, don't tell me that I'm just some ugly creep you hate!" Lily shouted. "I don't want to ruin our truce just yet! Say whatever you want to say _after we get out of this living hell!_ Please!"

And with that, she turned her back on James and tried to stop fuming.

**~*~*~*~**

Lily had no idea how she managed to scream like that at James. Perhaps all the humiliation and disappointment at the Ball she'd bottled up had all let go at once. She sighed and continued to look at the dull wall, trying not to turn around. _Why does he have to be so cute?_ Lily wanted to know, absently twirling a lock of her dark red hair. _I can forgive him for almost anything._ She thought about all these nights when she sat on her bed, praying that James would ask her to the dance. All these silent wishes that were fulfilled in such a way. She felt like crying at how naïve she'd been.

"I'm sorry," came the voice.

Lily turned around in shock and rubbed her eyes. Yes, James was indeed talking to her, saying that he was sorry. And he looked sincere. "Pardon?"

"I'm sorry that it bothered you so much," James said. "I didn't know that…well, hell, I'm a boy, okay? I don't know about those girly things. My two female cousins were hard enough to figure out already!"

Lily suppressed a smile. One could never stay mad at James. Even as she did those pranks, she'd never stopped liking, or even loving, James. "Apology accepted, I guess," she said, staring straight at James.

James avoided her stare, however. He looked at the ceiling and an unidentifiable expression came over him. "Really, though, I don't like Kristina as much as people would think," he admitted, staring straight up. "The only thing that's good about her is that she's pretty. I was pretty dumb then. I mean, before I had those plain looking girls chasing after me, and all of a sudden she, quite pretty in comparison, smiled at me and I thought I was in love or something." He shrugged. "It wasn't like she's stupid or anything, so I started going out with her. But…she's just got this air that's despicable." he shook his head. "I don't why I'm even telling you this, but I'm really sorry, okay? I wouldn't have done any of these things if it weren't to get Kristina off of my back. I don't even know you, so I just assumed I'd believe her about you." He looked up at her and smiled. "But I see you're different. At least, I don't see you flirting with Voldemort."

Lily stared at him in shock, and they both started to laugh. "But seriously, though, how on earth are we going to get out of here?" she asked.

James shrugged. "If there's a way for him to summon us to him out of this place, there must be a spell of some sort to summon ourselves out. Pay attention to him next time we are summoned, and perhaps we would think of a way." He held up the deck. "Another game?"

Night, or what was supposed to be night, came on soon. Lily had, surprisingly incredibly, lost another ten games to James, earning herself a nice big headache which kept her from falling asleep. Next to her, James had fallen asleep almost immediately and was currently snoring.

Lily looked at him closely. A few stray locks of dark hair fell on his forehead, making him look boyish and innocent. _As if!_ She snorted to herself. She thought about James' apologies, and her heart seemed to melt. She couldn't believe that James actually said sorry to her, and not only that, but confided to her about Kristina.

Thinking about Kristina annoyed Lily. Who in the name of Merlin did Kristina think she was, anyway? And what did Lily ever do to Kristina that earned her Kristina's dislike? _Oh yeah?_ Lily thought rebelliously, feeling her blood boil. _You used your boyfriend to taunt me, didn't you? How would you feel if I **kiss**__your boyfriend right here and now?_

And with that, Lily felt a surge of reckless boldness come over her, and she bend now and kissed James on the lips. It felt much better than kissing her Muggle boyfriend three years ago that her lips rested on his longer than she'd thought.

Which was when James opened his eyes.

A.N. Cliffhanger! (Or what I hope is a cliffhanger…) The kiss I promised, although given in a lamer way than I'd ever expected. Oh whatever. What do you expect? ::ducks tomatoes:: Okay, I'm starting to think that this story is going to turn out very crappy, so later updates may have contents you won't expect to see. For example, I'm planning to release Lily and James in the next chapter or two. Why? Coz I've milked this plot dry! The romance will proceed from here, I PROMISE. And don't tell me that James is OoC…please! I told myself that enough times already! Now, review and tell me how "great" ::coughcoughnotreallycoughcough:: this story is. Thanks! Oh, and I'm starting to write another L/J fic that is better than this one. Keep a lookout for it!


	10. Chapter Nine

**A.N.** This chappie has something I'm sure all of you were looking forward to. :) Sorry about the late update.

Oh, and my other L/J fic…don't expect any update for this week. It might be scraped. I'm sorry, so if anyone would like to read my other romances (H/Hr and D/G) say so in the reviews and I'll provide the links for you on my bio page. And if anyone is reading them already…my other penname is _Katrina_, and if you go to search and type in that name, as of now I am the thirty-third Katrina with three fics archived under it. Lol. To the fic now!

**Disclaimer:** Must I admit it?

_Uh-oh._ Lily froze, her lips still welded to James, unwilling to part. _Oops?_

Her mind had stopped working, not sure of what to say. She had been so immersed in how nice his lips felt, the sensation of James and her kissing, that she didn't bother with the consequences. After another moment of silence, Lily forced herself to pull away from him, blushing furiously.

James looked, if anything, amused. Embarrassed to no end, Lily avoided his eyes as she racked her brain for an excuse, and came up with one. Lame, but an excuse all the same. "I…er…tripped," she explained, looking down at her hands.

"And your lips happened to fall right on mine?" said James, making Lily blush deeper. Now she wouldn't be surprised if her hair suddenly goes on fire. "Quite a coincidence."

Lily looked away from him. Again she had managed to embarrass herself in front of him. And this time…why did she kiss him? Lily clenched her hands into fists. She did know why. Because she loves him. Because she wants to get back at him for dating Kristina. Because of everything!

She wanted to tell him everything. Why she did what she did. How she felt about him all these years. What he meant to her. All these long nights when she lay awake, silent wishing that he would notice her. Dammit, she wanted him to know. _You've came so far already to kissing James, Lily,_ a voice inside her head said. _Go ahead. Tell him. And after all, you might not have time._

"Do you want to really know why I kissed you?" Lily suddenly shouted at him, her temper flaring up. James was still cool as a cucumber, nodding. "All right, James Harris Potter, listen up! I like you!"

James stopped smiling. "Wha-what?" he said. "You _what_?"

"That's right. I like you. How's that?" Lily was on a rampage, breathing very fast. "I've liked you ever since our first year. Yes, at eleven I've liked you. You've never noticed me, of course, but I've always been watching you. I've watched you flying at Quidditch. I hate that sport, but I'm always there because of you. I've…oh god, just know that I've always been watching you! No matter what you did…"

Lily took a deep breath. Her sentences she had so carefully prepared seemed incoherent now. She couldn't hold anything back anymore. "I get a flutter every time you even _look_ at me, not that you ever do, anyway. Every time you talk-I savor that moment for months to come. And just being near you is enough to satisfy the dreamiest of my fantasies! And all my fantasies have you as my Prince Charming!" _There, I'm saying it. I don't care how he'll laugh._ "And every night I would wish silently that you would someday actually come and tell me that you love me too. And I would wish silently that all these times you look or take notice of me-it's because you like me.

"Do you understand how much it hurts when you dated every girl besides me? Have you ever had the feeling of all your hopes shattered? I don't think so. Well, walk a few miles in my shoes, then! And of all people you have to really like, it has to be the girl who hates my guts, who makes my life miserable! And on top of it all, you just had to play that stupid prank on me! Of course, you don't understand the feeling when your crush finally ask you to a ball, like he's been doing in your fantasies for the past five years. And then, only to tell you that he's doing it to entertain his girlfriend, for Galleons!"

Tears were running down Lily's face. _When did I become so emotional?_ She demanded of herself. "You mean the world to me, second to my family, do you know that? God, I ache for you every time McGonagall yells at you. I use my position as the Prefect to get you out of troubles and your Marauders get into. And no, you just had to destroy my world by doing such a simple little prank! And the second day…you aren't even the least bit sorry! You act so pleased that you've satisfied your girlfriend. But have you ever thought about Naomi and my feelings? Have you?"

"Lily…"

"That's why I took revenge. Yes, it's not only that you hurt my feelings. It's not only that! And then you tell me that Kristina's been feeding you all these stories about me being a _flirt_? How dare she! That's exactly why I'm going to kiss you. When we get back-and I hope we'll soon because I can't stand being near a guy whom I've loved and whom hates me-go ahead and tell your precious girlfriend what I did. Then maybe she'll actually understands what it feels to be me. And maybe she'll have a conscience for once! And you and your Marauders can laugh all you want, because I've done something I've always wanted to do. And I'm satisfied."

Lily stopped talking, surprised at herself that she'd said so many things. But it felt good to let everything out. As irrational as everything sounded, she did feel all these feelings. And it had been so hard to express them. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, but before she could, James was kissing her.

_It isn't happening!_ Lily thought in surprise, but it was. It was very brief, but she felt the subdued passion underneath. Except… "I hope to get paid for my kissing lessons," said James solemnly.

Lily whipped out her wand. Never mind that she would end up in Azkaban! She was going to blast this bastard into pieces. _Doesn't he feeling anything for anyone besides his girlfriend?_ She wanted to shriek.

James held up a hand, and he wasn't smiling out of amusement now. "Lily," he said very quietly. "I am sorry."

Lily stared at him. _The arrogant, pompous jerk…APOLOGIZING to ME?_ Her mouth opened slightly, giving James the opportunity to bend over for another kiss, which he did. "I didn't know you felt this way toward me, Lily," he said when they broke for air. "The truth is, I really do prank everyone, and to me, including you.

"I guess it's because you're quiet. I never do notice you that much, and you're always avoiding eye contacts with me. If I had known that you liked me…I would've noticed you more…and maybe we could've been something more…"

He saw Lily's surprised look. "Lily," he said gently. "I always saw you as a nerdy girl, no opinions of yourself, always tagging alone, although you're pretty. Your personality always seemed so weak. But it's during this imprisonment that I realized that you have a strong nature. For a girl, anyway. You would've been the fifth Marauder, had you been a boy. And if I had been given the chance to know the real you, I would've respected you. A lot more."

Lily couldn't believe her ears. James was talking…so gently and so confidingly…to her…. She sat up straighter and timidly put her hands on James' shoulders, just as he slipped his hands around her waist. "Let me get to know you more, Lily," he whispered into her ear. "Let me get to know the real you."

"This is the real me," replied Lily.

James laughed. "I never knew you had so much spunk in you, Lilac Evans," he said. "But really, when we get back, I don't want to see the Lily who's immersed in books, who stays _awake_ in Binns' classes. I want to see the Lily who dares to kick me, who plays pranks on us Marauders, who's not afraid to fight for her rights…and who told her crush that she loved him. And Lily, this may sound clichéd and all, but if I'd known the Lily I've just gotten to know from the start, you would've been in Kristina's place." He bent closer. "And a lot more."

"You aren't lying this time?" Lily asked, unable to believe it. "This isn't another Marauder prank you're playing on me? You didn't say these words just so I can get all worked up with high hopes?"

And James' face told her everything she needed to know. "No," he promised. And in her ear, he whispered, "I didn't mind that kiss. You are a good kisser, Lily." He kissed her again. "And those last kisses…I didn't kiss you to taunt you…I kissed you because kissing you is different than kissing any other girl."

Lily was practically floating on air. "How so?" she wondered aloud, waiting for a dumb answer like 'your lips have warts' or something. But the answer melted her.

"You kiss me not because I'm James like all the other girls, but because you love me; and you kiss me not because I love you back and you want to hang onto me either. Lily, all these silent wishes you've had in the past…consider them granted."

Lily slipped her arms around James, the gesture she'd dreamt of for nearly six years. He hugged her back, and they stayed like that, in each other's embrace, nurturing the new understanding between the two. Lily sighed. James…the Marauder that he was…she was surprised that he'd spoken all these words to her, so tender and so unlike himself. _Even if it IS another one of his pranks,_ Lily thought, closing her eyes as their lips touched, _I have no regrets. All I know is that he finally kissed me out of his own free will, and that he did not make fun of me when I confessed my feelings._

His heart was beating very fast. Lily embraced him and pulled him as close to her as possible, and when their lips parted for a slight moment, she heard his words in her ear. "I love you," he whispered. "And it is nothing like the phrase I told Kristina. Lily, you've earned it; you won my heart."

As their eyes gazed into each other's, Lily knew that he told the truth. Marauder or not, James Harris Potter was not playing another one of his famous pranks when he said those words. Her wish had been indeed granted.

**_~*~_**

And someone else's wishes had been granted as he watched the two kiss passionately, unaware of the world full of danger around them, lost in the love they were feeling. Voldemort laughed slightly. "The prophecy has indeed begun to come true," he said softly to himself. "The child of James and Lily shall bring my downfall although his blood shall strengthen my reign."

He laughed again, his eyes gazing to fix again upon the parents of the boy who would one day defeat him.

**A.N. **Ugh. I planned to have them admit their feelings in this one and kiss in the next chapter, but that means *gasp* I have to write more chapters and incorporate more plot into this, which I most definitely suck at and which I most definitely am too lazy to do. One more chapter left. As I said, the ending will be incredibly lame, but hey, at least the kissing is *cross fingers* good…right? I tried to fluff everything up as much as I could. Review please. Yes, and I know the romance developed a little bit too soon, but notice that Lily and James had been interacting for like three chapters now, and James got to know the Lily Kristina had never allowed him to know. :) Expect the last chapter sometime at the end of the week, in which Kristina will see the new couple…and the Marauders…hmmm.


	11. The Last Chapter sob

**A.N.** Finally! The concluding part of _Silent Wishes_, the L/J fic which I'd started out to be an action fic (note that I changed the genre) and which ended to be some lame romance. Sorry to all the readers who thought I had hope! Anyway, this is the longest chapter yet, and the best if I may say so myself. I felt bad about cheating you guys on the last one and tried to improve this one. So, what're you waiting for? Go read and enjoy! Marauders' reactions and more coming up! Tadah!

**Disclaimer:** My last one…no, unfortunately I STILL don't own _any_ of this. *sob*

****

"Wake up!"

Lily's eyes remained closed. Determinedly, she stopped herself from waking up from this wonderful dream, in which James had finally kissed her. Out of his own free will. Without bets and Galleons attached. She didn't want to wake up to the cold reality that she was again the wallflower…_wait a minute. That's James' voice I'm hearing._

She opened her eyes a little to see James' confused face looming over hers, but they softened slightly when they saw her. Lily's heart pounded. It might not be a dream after all. She propped herself up with her elbow to realize that she was not lying in the cold, stone cell like she expected, but some kind of a dirt road.

"What?" Lily exclaimed in surprise, looking around. She was most definitely not in that cell. She was out in the open. And it looked rather familiar-_Hogsmeade!_ She looked behind her to see the Shrieking Shack. _That's where James and I are kidnapped._ "Is this-is this-?"

James had stood up and he, too, was looking around in awe. "I guess so," he said. "This is Hogsmeade." He gave Lily his hand to help her up. "Somehow we're in Hogsmeade."

"I kind of noticed," Lily muttered. James heard and grinned sheepishly. "But why though? Weren't we-unless I've been dreaming-in Voldemort's vicinity before?"

"Yeah," replied James.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well?" she said.

"I guess he threw us out," James said in a disbelieving tone. "Unless I'm in a dream…but I pinched myself a few times before. So I guess not."

Lily sighed. _Who cares anyway?_ She thought, unable to stop smiling. _I'm almost back home…in Hogwarts…safe and surprisingly alive._ She was lost in her thoughts for a few minutes before James poked her back on earth. "Lilac Evans!" he said, pointing down to the main section of Hogsmeade, where wizards and witches were milling about. "Come on! You want to get back, right? Let's go then!"

Lily hurriedly followed James as he went toward a witch who had been walking around Three Broomsticks. Her eyes widened when she saw Lily and James there. Self-consciously Lily looked down at her attire. She looked as if she'd climbed out of a mud shower and fallen asleep immediately without brushing her hair. Nervously she tried to flatten her hair and could hear James straightening out his robes. Finally, the witch spoke.

"Lily Evans and James Potter?" she asked.

"Yes," said James and Lily.

The witch frowned, looking very surprised, but she smiled slightly. "Well, I don't think I should be questioning you anything, because you clearly need some good food and a good sleep," she said. A few wizards and witches who had come upon seeing them nodded, and another witch got something from her pocket.

"I'll make a Portkey for you two," she said, tapping it slightly with her wand, then handing it to Lily.

Lily took it and held it out to James. James shrugged and took hold of it, and in a few seconds they were whirling through the air till they slammed into something. The floor of Dumbledore's office, to be exact.

"Oh my," gasped Professor McGonagall, who had been talking to Professor Dumbledore before. She stared at the two ragged students on the floor before her. "Lilac! James! But how on earth-"

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm sure they will be able to explain it soon enough," he said.

Lily got up and swaggered over to a chair, which she plopped it graciously. James did the same thing. And then, by an unspoken agreement, James started to explain everything. From the Marauders' prank to Lily's pranks to James' prank to the kidnap and everything that had happened in between, omitting the kisses. Finally, he stopped. "And I have no idea how we woke up to be in some I-don't-know-where-exactly place, but we did. And then we found some Ministry people looking for us and that's that."

McGonagall's mouth was open. "Well!" she said. "That's a very unusual tale. Usually I would be taking points off for both of your pranks, being prefects, but I'm going to let it go for now. I'll give you the day off for classes. Go take a rest and we'll worry about everything later."

Professor Dumbledore smiled. "Minerva, I don't think they'll be troubling the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher much," he said. "They must've learned quite a lot in the past few days." He looked kindly at the students. "Run along now. I'll be writing to your parents with the good news right now."

Lily wobbled to her feet, still light-headed after everything. She was surprised when James helped her. "Thank you, professors," they said in unison, and to Lily's further surprise he helped her out of the office and to the Gryffindor tower.

**~~*~~**

The common room was thankfully empty and devoid of students when Lily and James made it back. Lily fell flat on an armchair and sighed. "I still can't believe _anything_," she said with a laugh. "I mean, just yesterday we were in Voldemort's cell!"

"Kissing no less," James said, sitting down next to her.

Lily blushed. After a long moment, she stood up and said, "Well! Off to the showers I go!" and ran to her dorm as quickly as she could.

The dormitory did not change, at least her bed and her trunk were still the same as she'd left it. Apparently Kristina hadn't bothered to mess up her drawers much. She pulled some clean garments out of her trunk along with towel and a lot of soap and dashed down to the prefect's bathroom. 

James looked slightly amused as she passed.

**~~*~~**

Even after Lily finished her shower, she stayed in the bathroom for a long time, staring at her reflection in the mirror, thinking. _What is going on between James and I?_ She thought to herself, an unconscious grin creeping up her face. _How will everyone react? I know Naomi will be somewhat happy for me…and her friends might be too…but the Marauders? And what about Kristina and Deborah?_ Thinking about that chilled her. _Well, find out for yourself,_ she thought, heading back to the Gryffindor common room.

It was still quite empty when she'd returned, only a few first-years gawking at James and reading the _Daily Prophet_. James had returned from a shower too, but his hair was still as wild as before. He was reading when she'd entered, but looked up immediately as she took a seat beside him. "It's almost lunchtime," was the first thing out of his mouth. "Man, do I miss some _good_ food."

Lily laughed. "You're the one who can't transfigure the food we're served for your life!" she said.

"And you can?" James demanded.

Lily was silent. It was James' turn to laugh and he put his arms around Lily. They hugged briefly, but Lily pulled out of the hug. James looked at her inquiringly, and Lily determinedly avoided his eyes as she said, "What will Kristina think? What will _everyone_ think?" _Hell, I can feel those first years staring at me already,_ she thought, watching the staring girls out of the corner of her eyes.

James, however, placed his lips on her forehead, drowning Lily in the sensation she'd just known. God, now she knew why she'd liked James so much. As mischievous and mean as he was, he was really gentle and sweet…at least, sometimes he _could_ be. "I don't care exactly what _Krissie_ thinks anymore," James said, stroking Lily's wet hair slightly. "But you know what? It won't hurt much to find out. Anyway, it's time to go to lunch."

And before Lily could stop him, he was pulling her out of the common room and down to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was packed with students, but an unnatural hush fell over them when Lily and James entered. The reasons…well, after all, they were missing for more than a week, and Lily and James' rivalry had become common knowledge after the kidnap. Not to mention that James' prank on Lily had been spread all throughout the school. But there they were, Lily Evans and James Potter, the kidnapped students from Hogwarts, coming into the Great Hall _holding hands_. There was a cough, probably from Sirius, and conversation resumed.

"People these days," muttered James, leading Lily to the Gryffindor table. Lily's legs felt like lead as she spotted Kristina's and Deborah's faces too soon. _It's coming,_ she thought with dread.

She quickly slipped her hand out of James' and fled to the seat beside Naomi. Naomi grinned at her. "Wow, Lily! I guess it was worth it after all, eh?" she said with amused pleasure. "I can't wait till you fill me in on everything!"

"I'm sure Dumbledore will," Lily said, ravenously wolfing down half the food on the table, leaving the other half for James.

Naomi put an arm around her. "Now c'mon, Lil, you know what I mean," she said, winking. "I want to hear about the steamy part-"

"Naomi!" Lily yelped, but it was drowned in Kristina's too familiar voice.

"OH JAMES!" she hollered, making a big show as she threw her arms around James, who literally staggered back. "I MISSED YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!"

Beside her, someone commented, "Is that why you dated two boys during his absence?"

James did not hug her back. He apparently heard, and he pushed her off slowly. Kristina panicked and launched into explanation. "You see, I didn't want to keep myself worrying sick after you…" she said quickly. "So I thought I could…ah…keep up my kissing skills with Jacobson…"

"I should've known it was a mistake when I started to date you," James said in a hardened tone. There was another hush over the students, but when Remus made a signal at them everyone pretended to go back to talking. "Krissie, it's over. I 'enjoyed' our little relationship, but everything must end someday."

Kristina's eyes narrowed and she looked at Lily. "It's because of that Mudblood, isn't it?" she demanded, pointing at Lily with her perfectly manicured fingers. "You really can't blame me for anything, then! But I thought you'd have better taste than this! Really…"

Lily's face flushed with anger. Naomi was about to retort back when James beat her to it. "Yes, Krissie, it's because of Lily Evans, and I daresay her blood is purer than yours at this moment," he said coolly, stepping over to Lily and putting a hand on her shoulder. Lily swallowed the peas in her mouth. "You've been lying to me the entire time about who Lily Evans really is, and I'm glad we were imprisoned. I found out who Lily Evans is for myself, and I have to say, she's far more attractive than you."

_He's standing up for me,_ Lily thought, blushing for a different reason now. _He's standing up for me! To Kristina no less!_

The Gryffindors watched with rapt attention as James captured Lily's lips in a kiss. It always did magic for Lily. She placed her arms around James, savoring the sweet taste. Finally they pulled apart, and Lily dove back into her peas, her face a searing shade of scarlet. Naomi whistled beside her. And then, almost every girl congratulated her on the table, every one besides Kristina and Deborah that is. Kristina opened her mouth in shock. James held up a hand. "Please, I'm not in the mood today, Krissie," he said. "Maybe after I recovered from the shock that I ever dated you."

Kristina stood up in a huff, and stormed out of the Great Hall. Deborah followed. The third unnaturally silence fell over the Great Hall, and Lily was sure that even the teachers were shocked somewhat. "Hey…have you heard the joke about the chicken and the duck?" piped up someone in the Hufflepuff table, and the whole room laughed, and finally everything was as normal as it could get.

_Only one more thing,_ Lily thought, watching James and his three friends. _The Marauders._

Surprisingly, it turned out better than she'd expected. Sirius came over to her and shook her hand very solemnly. "I congratulate you on being another fling of our dear ole James," he said, nodding. "I shall book a bed in the hospital wing-"

"Now, now, Sirius, let's not scare off her yet," Remus said, smiling. "And Lily, and you too Naomi, I would like to apologize for that Christmas Ball prank. At that time, a few Galleons didn't seem like a bad deal to us."

Lily and Naomi both rolled their eyes. And then…it was just that! Peter congratulated them, squeakily although, and that was all. Lily was surprised at how everything had worked out. James put an arm around her as they sat at the table, and although Lily was somewhat embarrassed to be spotlighted she did not mind. "I promise I won't break your heart," James said in a joking tone.

"And I promise to take it better than Krissie," Lily said impishly.

**_~*~_**

****

The sixth years had another ball in honor of another defeat of Voldemort's army of Death Eaters. James had wanted to do the same prank on Kristina, but Lily decided that she didn't want to relive the memory. Besides, why give up James for half the ball? So instead, she found herself dancing with James again, but this time, both out of their own free wills.

They rotated along with the other couples, Lily's head on James' shoulder, both humming the song softly. "So," James said after a song's end, just before the start of another. "The year's turned out rather interestingly, you agree?"

Lily smiled. "When am I going to become Lily Potter?" she asked jokingly, watching Naomi and Remus talking at the other side of the room. _I sure hope Naomi gets her man too._

"Soon," James promised in the same joking tone, as now a waltz played. "By the way, what are we going to name our first kid?"

"Boy or girl?"

"It's most definitely a boy," James said confidently, and Lily had to laugh. They weren't even married yet!

"Do you do this with every girl you date?"

"No, just you," James replied. "You are the one who brought it up, need I remind you?"

Lily grinned. "In that case…Harry."

"Hmm…Harry Potter…has a ring to it," James said. "Hey thanks! I'll make sure to tell my next girlfriend that! Do you know that I have three ex-wives?"

"James!"

Lily and James laughed, and soon were engaged in another passionate kiss.

**_THE END!!!_**

**A.N. **Yeah! Done! *throws party over internet* It's been nearly a year and I'm finally finished writing this. Thanks to all the reviewers who had given me support during the past months. I'll list them here in no order, so…um…if you reviewed…like…just go and see if your name's there! LOL.

THANK YOU **_SO_** MUCH TO:

**Shadewind Hayate, Anonarien, rinoa, Bubby, Kase, The Marauder's Map, AngelStar88, SEW, Lady Evilness, silent-wishes, Teddy, Mage of Fire, Azalai, Joani, Celenae, alli, juggling stars, [anonymous], sirius64, Leeann, Sarah Embry, Anakah, Waxwing, [myself (lol)], Akasha, HerDarkMaterials, Mrs.Sirius Black, Agent Casey Percius, ****hErShEyKiSsEs17, Unicorn777, Sakura Hao, Philyra, Irish Lass, ForceMuette, lily, **and last but definitely not least…**Kaeldra!******

And although I didn't get any flames, I must apologize to all my wonderful reviewers for my lame ending. I meant for this to be an action fic—Lily and James actually RUNNING AWAY from Voldie but I got too lazy and I was like, "Oh man, I can't do this" and so…I didn't. Terribly sorry.

If you expect any more work from me in the future, please—either wait till the fifth book comes out and I start rewriting _A Prediction That Came True_ OR as I mentioned before, try my other pennames, but only if you're a H/Hr or D/G shipper. I'll post the links on my bio as soon as I figure out…how.

As of now I'm planning a sequel to this, a sequel that will be much better written. (and it will be an action fic WITH actions! ^^) Answering questions like whether Naomi would get together with Remus and how did everyone die off *ducks tomatoes* and Voldemort and their relationship developing. However, nothing is for sure! Now, please review the last chapter! I know this is a big request, but I want my reviews to go over seventy. Is that even possible? *contemplative* Kay, that's all for now!

Love, SunLight 


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